I’ve always wondered how berries here became namenerds. I’m sure every berry would have different stories and I wanted to hear those.
For me, it was because of [name_m]Harry[/name_m] [name_m]Potter[/name_m] and my English academy. I despise my name. So when my academy told me to find an English name, I was happy because there was finally a chance of choosing my own name. But back then, I had no background infos of English names. Eventually I chose a name that I really don’t like now (Have no idea that name was a cute name that mostly belongs to young girls). At that time I loved literary character names.
Then, I had a crush on [name_m]Harry[/name_m] [name_m]Potter[/name_m] series. I made a [name_m]Harry[/name_m] [name_m]Potter[/name_m] club with friends and we felt like we need English names like the main characters. So I searched names a lot, and found names interesting because they sounded so different from my country’s names. And one day, I found nameberry, have been a lurker and now I’m writing this!
It was [name_m]Harry[/name_m] [name_m]Potter[/name_m] for me too. My friend and I kept a notebook and wrote letters to each other in it, under the names [name_f]Rowena[/name_f] and [name_f]Hermione[/name_f] lol. Big ol’ NERDS. I remember reading somewhere that J.K. Rowling admitted to being a huge name nerd (which is no surprise because her characters have such fantastic names).
I also fell in love with 19th century novels, film adaptations and the names of all the characters in them. [name_m]Little[/name_m] Women has probably been the strongest influence on my taste. I love long formal names with comfy, sweet nicknames. [name_m]Theodore[/name_m] [name_u]Lawrence[/name_u] is gorgeous, but he’s called [name_u]Teddy[/name_u] or [name_u]Laurie[/name_u]! So perfect.
For me, it was the internet.
I was 14 or 15 when I first made up combos for my future children. When I went online to look up their meanings, I ended up in a (german) name forum, and it fascinated me. I guess name-nerdiness is contagious!
I was a teen (17, 18) in my first serious relationship (lasted about two years) and I started daydreaming about what we would name our future little ones. Of course I thought the relationship would last forever, lol! Anyway, I started out on Yahoo Answers (2009/2010) where I was very very active for a couple years. I’m not sure how I found it, I think I started looking up a couple names & stumbled upon it. I eventually found this site (and behindthename.com) and slowly transitioned (had a different username then)! My relationship ended but I was hooked and became a name nerd!
I will say I’ve always been someone who liked reading, writing, & anything creative really! So names are just an extension of that!
I reckon I’ve liked names for years, just not as intensely as I do now (I do distinctly remembering vowing to name my future children [name_m]Theodore[/name_m] and [name_f]Isabella[/name_f] when I was seven :)).
I think it was my writing that got me into it (and onto here) properly - I was searching for some sibling name suggestions for a character, I expect, began lurking on the older threads for a while before making an account, which I transitioned from to this one a couple months back. However, I was active on Y!A for a while before making my way to NB. I think my reading was a big part of things too, [name_m]Rick[/name_m] [name_m]Riordan[/name_m] and J. K. Rowling especially - I just found (still do) their characters’ names amazing! You’ll probably find some nods to them in my lists somewhere.
I don’t have much of a story of how I became interested in names. My story is that I’ve been interested in names ever since I could read. I have a condition called Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD), and one of the symptoms is an extreme obsession or fascination with something. My fascination that’s lasted my whole life is names. If you look at my notebooks from when I was about 3-12 years old, it’s filled with the names of fake families, fake classes, fake groups of friends, things like that. I even have a few documents on my family’s old desktop with the names for an entire school of students.
When I was in 5th grade, I read a book about a girl who wanted to become an author, and she had a name book to help her name her characters. I’ve been writing since 2nd grade and I’ve always wanted to be an author so this sounded like a good idea to me. I asked for a name book for [name_u]Christmas[/name_u], got one, and the rest is history! I still have the book; it’s missing the front and back cover, and the first and last couple pages, and is filled with writing and dog-eared pages.
[name_m]Even[/name_m] before I got the book, I’ve been interested in names. When I got my first American girl doll at age 7, I went through a long process to find a name for her that I had never heard before. I went with [name_u]Simone[/name_u], after a girl who came to bring-a-friend week at dance. I also had names that I wanted to use for future kids by the time I was 9, my favorite girls being [name_f]Theresa[/name_f] and [name_f]Juliana[/name_f]. I don’t particularly like either of those now.
I’ve been a namenerd my whole life! [name_u]Ever[/name_u] since I was little I would give all of my toys and american girl dolls full names that I loved I still remember some of them ([name_f]Penelope[/name_f] [name_u]Rain[/name_u], [name_f]Darci[/name_f] [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] etc) . I used to write little stories when I was about 5 + where I got to make up beautiful names for all the characters.
I remember when I was in daycare I used to critique all the kids names and wrote my favourite names on a piece of paper.
I remember when I was 7 that I wanted to name my future kids [name_f]Paige[/name_f] [name_f]Elizabella[/name_f] and [name_f]Abigail[/name_f] [name_f]Carolina[/name_f].
I’ve also been a namenerd my whole life! When I was little (around 3/4), I remember BEGGING my parents to name my sister (if I had had one) [name_f]Juliana[/name_f]! I don’t know where I heard that name or why I loved it so much, but I really, really did love it. They continued to say no, so I named my first American Girl [name_m]Doll[/name_m] that instead. I remember a few years later (though I think there were other names I loved in between these ages) when I was 8, I really wanted to name my daughter named [name_f]Abigail[/name_f] [name_f]Lydia[/name_f] after my favourite actress at the time ([name_f]Abigail[/name_f] Breslin) & my favourite Bible character at the time ([name_f]Lydia[/name_f]). I am still so in love with the name [name_f]Lydia[/name_f], though! It’s in my top 3 for girls
As long as I can remember I’ve been a name nerd. I used to spend hours browsing name websites for my [name_m]Sims[/name_m] when I was about 10.
It really kicked in when my mother got pregnant with my little brother. I would write out all these long lists of beautiful names in hopes she’d pick one. [name_u]Ever[/name_u] since then I’ve kept lists for myself and they’re always changing!
As stated in my signature, I’ve been a name nerd since middle school. I would doodle little houses and design each room, including my future babies’ rooms. This is what prompted me to start coming up with names I liked and I’ve been doing it ever since. Although, my style has changed quite a bit over the past 10-12 years. I honestly just love it and I’m so glad to be surrounded by others who love it as just much.
My love for making lists, naming my Nintendogs, just anything I could name alongside my love for making lists started all of this over 10 years ago. I then looked further into it all when I was 14/15, before that my name knowledge was limited to top 100 lists and people I knew.
I would not consider myself a name nerd, I just have some interest in names. It all started when I was 12 because I used not to like my name and looked online for some inspiration
I’ve always had an interest in names. When I was little, I named every stuffed animal, every doll, and ect. I never named them stupid names like [name_f]Bunny[/name_f], or [name_u]Baby[/name_u], I named the real names. [name_f]Every[/name_f] buildabear I got has a real name. But I do remember when my name obsession really peaked the highest, I was like 16 when my sister got pregnant and she had gotten a book of names to find my nieces name. After she had used it, I took it. I highlighted all the names in it that I liked. That’s when I started making list, right about 16-17 years old.
I just loved to name my dolls, and would often name them after my baby sitters with late 80’s/ early 90’s names. When I got interested in creative writing and storytelling when I was in elementary school, I loved searching for the perfect names for my characters, and try to make them historically accurate if I was writing a historical fiction piece. Online, I found so many unique names that I never heard of before, and I would become infatuated with them. I made a Nameberry account when I was 14 (almost four years ago), and the rest is history!
I’ve been obsessed with names ever since I can remember. When I was around 7, I found a miniture name book that had like the top 100 names of that year & I went through & marked all the names that I liked. I also told everyone that I was going to name my kids [name_f]Anna[/name_f] & [name_u]Michael[/name_u] (I’m not too fond of either of these names now). Then, when I was about 13, I got my first tablet & I downloaded a baby name app & it led me to find so many more names that I hadn’t heard of before. I joined nameberry about 3 years ago on a different account.
I was 11 or 12 when I first got into names. There was a soap-opera on TV here in 2004 with a character named [name_f]Eleonora[/name_f] “[name_m]Leo[/name_m]” and I became obsessed with the name. It’s still one of my favourites to this day. After that I just started paying more attention to names and got really into it in 2011 or 2012 when I discovered nameberry, and I’ve been mostly lurking ever since.
I got bored one holiday (near the end of 2013 when I was about 15), started looking for unusual names, and never stopped. I made up a list with names and meanings, starting with my favourite names at the time, which I still have as my ‘masterlist’ with any names I like or find interesting. I joined a few name forums, ‘learned’ about combos, and sibsets and everything else just expanded from there. Initially I started thinking about names because I used to daydream a lot about having kids with certain fictional characters (and still do haha).
I’ve always loved writing and imagining things, so when I was much younger my mom taught me her tricks for great naming and passed down the books she used to name my brother and I to me so I could name characters.
My friend and I kept a notebook and wrote letters to each other in it, under the names [name_f]Rowena[/name_f] and [name_f]Hermione[/name_f] lol. Big ol’ NERDS. I remember reading somewhere that J.K. Rowling admitted to being a huge name nerd (which is no surprise because her characters have such fantastic names).